Nisar says Mirza has become a part of the group which has been bent upon disobeying Supreme Court’s verdict against Gilani PHOTO: APP/FILE

ISLAMABAD: “Sadly, Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza has become a part of the group which is bent upon disobeying Supreme Court’s verdict against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani,” Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan lashed out on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Nisar maintained that Gilani was convicted by a bench of the highest court in the country, and thus stood disqualified.

“On one hand, seven judges have convicted Gilani of contempt of court while on the other hand, the NA Speaker says there is no question of disqualification,” he said, referring to a clause of the Constitution which says any sitting member of the house is disqualified if they are convicted by a court. This has been the major crux of the Opposition’s argument.

Gilani, meanwhile points towards the rule where the speaker of the national assembly decides whether his conviction amounts to disqualification from the house.

Nisar further said that as per the law, the case should be sent to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

“The ECP officials are neutral and the case should be reviewed by them,” Nisar stated.

As per the constitution, Speaker has the right to reflect and decide. It has been set by Judiciary’s own precedences.
Let’s wait for the decision on Gilani’s appeal to the SC, and see what come out after that.
It is to early to blame or malign the speaker.

Mr. Nisar
Please let the democracy flourish in the Pakistan.
We the common people & political workers of all
parties have not forgotten the horrible role of the judiciary
in the past to derail the civil governments.
Madam speaker also has a constitutional authorty to take
a right decision in favour of democracy.
As leader of Opposition in a democratic setup expecting
from you also a positive role to strengthen the democracy.

Mr CH Nisar, the time for making meaningless statements is over. The constitution has provisions to remove the PM. The motion of no confidence is one —-use it? You will probably not succeed in getting the motion to pass. But at least do it, and if nothing else the voters will know who really supports this disgraceful prime minister.

Nisar is proving to be an ally of SC by his outbursts in its favor. He knows that parliament is supreme as it makes the laws. The speaker used her constitutional powers and this irks Nisar. PML-N is only a party of Punjab, yet they pretend to own Pakistan and think they should rule the country.
As far as not respecting the SC decision, nobody respects Justice Munir’s and ZAB’s decisions and the nation and International bodies have rejected it many times. Even the SC does not have to courage to come out to defend its majority decisions like supporting the PCO and every military takeover, high treason and mutilation of constitution. The generals and judges can commit multiple acts of high treason and shamelessly get away with that but the speaker NA cannot use her constitutional powers. Since when a contempt case is major conviction but subverting constitution is not?

The theme of this unfortunate story is corruption in past of President, Prime Minister becoming a shield to protect that corruption, government institutions and many political parties taking side and aiding these national sins in the name of democracy and constitution.

Mr. Nisar Please let the democracy flourish in the Pakistan. We the common people & political workers of all parties have not forgotten the horrible role of the judiciary in the past to derail the civil governments. Madam speaker also has a constitutional authorty to take a right decision in favor of democracy. As leader of Opposition in a democratic setup expecting from you also a positive role to strengthen the democracy.

What is intriguing is why Nawaz Sharif has abandoned his policy of restraint vis-à-vis the PPP-led government, a restraint informed by the bitter experience of the military taking advantage of the politicians’ falling out to intervene and pack up the democratic system altogether. The restraint shown by Nawaz Sharif over the past four years may have earned him the sarcastic jibe of acting like a ‘friendly’ opposition, but it now appears he has allowed himself to be persuaded by the hawks in his party (led by Chaudhry Nisar and backed up by younger brother Shahbaz Sharif) to go all out against the government. The timing of the change is also intriguing, given that the country is in the run up to general elections. The opportunity for the turn has been presented by the contempt conviction of the prime minister by the Supreme Court but the PML-N has displayed its impatience with the legal and political process to be gone through before the verdict can take effect. Nevertheless, the argument that a street agitation may destabilise democracy, if not provide once again an opportunity to anti-democratic forces to wrap up the system per se has not lost its validity, historically or at the present conjuncture.